


Still Not Dead

by MyWordsKnowWhatYouReadInTheDark



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M, charloe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 06:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16805371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyWordsKnowWhatYouReadInTheDark/pseuds/MyWordsKnowWhatYouReadInTheDark
Summary: Bass decides to skip town when his usefulness has dried up and Miles is too preoccupied to be a good friend.  Charlie comes to the conclusion she wants Bass to stay.Set shortly after the end of Season 2.





	Still Not Dead

**Author's Note:**

> So here is my foray into writing Charloe; not my usual pairing/OT3, but hopefully I've done them justice. I got the line "thank you for not dying" stuck in my head and had to do something with it.
> 
> Rated Teen just to be on the safe side: some swearing, mild physical affection, and a mention of sex.
> 
> Mostly Charlie/Bass, mentions of Miles/Rachel, (and if you squint really hard and turn it upside down you might see allusion to Bass/Miles.)
> 
>  _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own the rights to "Revolution" (That was formerly NBC and WB Studios/Universal. Currently DC comics?) or its affiliated characters. Awesomeness of the characters is totally owned by the actors who portrayed them. I just play around with the characters in my head for the fun of it; I make no money off of this what-so-ever. I may ride them hard, I may get them dirty; but I put them away clean for the next person who wants to enjoy them.

Still Not Dead - a Revolution fanfic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  


  
The last major cells of the fake U.S. had been rounded up. Relations with Texas were out of enemy territory and headed into allied waters. Their gratitude for what the Matheson clan had done in the wake of disaster was paid for and then some in compressed carbon and lifted bounties, declared national heroes.  
  
They were settling in for the winter months into some temporary housing. Charlie rather not spend another month in this dust ridden dry landscape, but frostbite and hypothermia weren't that welcome either.  
  
Then one day Charlie was picking up some supplies at the trader's, they mentioned that Monroe has been in earlier. "Are you sure you need those?" They went on to say how much he had bought. That was odd. She was pretty sure Miles wouldn't have sent them both. She got the items Miles had listed off earlier. No sense in making the trip twice and it's not like they couldn't use extras. They now had the money and the storage.  
  
As she ran errands around town the picture became clear. Bass was leaving. Or getting his own place. She'd bet on the former.  
  
She wasn't sure when, but it would be soon. She didn't know how much time she had left, but she had to try to stop him. Miles needed him, she needed him. Not because he was useful, but he was a part of them. Miles and Bass had come so far in repairing whatever had been damaged between them. Charlie, well, she no longer needed to kill him. The time for that was over. Something in her died in these final battles with the Patriots. These days in the silence after, she found herself letting go. There had been so much lost. She needed to build. She needed to fill in the holes before something got broken that couldn't be fixed. And in that space of longing and loneliness she reflected on all his good deeds, the stories of yore. Perhaps a bit of forgiveness was even shining in through the cracks, even if she wasn't ready to. No, what she had was wanting to make amends, to run to, not away from. She needed her own safe space and she was looking to Bass, not because he was available, but because of who he was. She knew he could be trusted when it counted.  
  
She delivered her packages back home, then left once again for town. Her suspicions were pretty much confirmed when she spotted Bass loading up an unfamiliar horse with heaving saddlebags and shoving more things in them. She paid a youngster to tell him to meet her at the Miller's old grainery. It was just a few blocks over. Used mostly for town functions now and back up storage. Right now there wasn't much in it.  
  
When Bass arrived she was leaning up against the old weathered wood board wall. The smell of hay rich in the air.  
"Hey, I was told you wanted to see me?" His face and tone neutral. Bass had a suspicion Charlie had somehow found out and was going to try to stop him, but he'd hear her out. She went through the trouble of tracking him down, the least he could do was listen. For a moment.  
She smiled at him from across the building, him slowly making his way over. His boots crunching on the dried refuse and dirt. "I haven't had time to say it really, but Bass, thank you for not dying."  
He was in disbelief for a second that she used his nickname, then again she could sweet-talk the pants off a fly if she wanted something. "Not on the top of my list of things I look forward to doing." He didn't mean to be an ass, but he was trying to figure out her intention behind the words. Coming from her he knew it meant a lot, but most people really weren't glad he was alive, and he expected she'd still be among them. "Now, if that's all, I'm kind of busy." He turned to leave.  
  
Charlie pushed herself off the wall, her smile turning to a frown. Reaching out as she hurried her pace, she grabbed for Bass' wrist.  
He could hear her coming, so it wasn't entirely unexpected.  
"Bass. _please_ don't go."  
He spun on his heel to face her, staring into her eyes with a steely gaze. "And why not Charlotte? There's nothing for me here."  
His words cut deep, they stung, she glared at him before looking away. As if that could hide the tears that threatened to well up, or tamp down the anger she felt. But why would he think different after the vitriol she threw at him endlessly for so many years.  
"What ever abandonment issues you have aren't my problem."  
That crossed the line. Her face turned beet red, she was about to storm off. How could she have ever thought she could tolerate this insufferable selfish prick long enough to have anything resembling even a friendship she didn't know. It had to be insanity.  
Bass seen he went too far. He sighed. "Charlotte, I'm sorry, but I have to do what I need to do. I'd think you'd be happy to be rid of me."  
She swallowed. Her voice broken when she found it, "you're wrong. And it's not true, there is something here for you."  
"Charlie, I'm not going to sit around while Miles and She-Bitch play house," he bit out. "Yeah, things are better between us, but he's usually too busy sucking face to notice anything else. Afraid she might turn me to stone if I so much as look at Miles. And yeah, Stay-Puft and I can nerd out about the past, but that gets old. Not really great for keeping the bed warm. And you can't tell me you aren't going to continue being all up in my shit about staying on the straight and narrow; no thanks. It's time for me to start over - _elsewhere_."  
She couldn't deny any of what he was saying. She herself was getting sick of her parents honeymoon phase. As for herself, she didn't think she nor Bass had been as bad as they had been. Still Charlie wanted him here. Or around. Even if he had to pick a smaller nearby community; she'd understand. "Please stay," she begged. Then stupidly she leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips.  
Or tried to. Bass had held her away before she could make contact. "What the hell Charlie?! I thought you were better than this."  
"Better than what," she snapped at him.  
"You think some fling in the hay, a night here or there of passion will keep me around?" Bass was hurt and he was attracted to Charlie for the dignity with which she carried herself. She wasn't some floozy. Or he hadn't thought she was.  
"What the hell yourself! That wasn't..."  
"You're going to tell me you've all of a sudden had a change of heart. The moment I decide to skip town."  
"It's not like that at all Bass."  
"Really, the Charlotte Matheson I know couldn't give one iota if some random bastard shot me in the head and left me for the vultures and sun dogs to pick at."  
She crossed her arms, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Some things change."  
He considered for a moment. The past few weeks she had been less hostile around him. Even cordial at times he supposed. He sighed, "Charlie, while I do appreciate the occasional dalliance, I'm not looking for something brief here. I'm looking for something more genuine. If I stay I need to know it's real." He crossed his own arms.  
Charlie gave a nod, wiping away a tear. "I swear it, or at least I think it is. Still trying to wrap my head around it." She leaned up to try placing a soft kiss on his lips. This time he didn't stop her. Barely reciprocating it, but not pushing her away either.  
"Bass, I... I find myself thinking about laying next to you at night. I'm jealous watching Mom & Miles kiss, wishing it was your lips on mine." She ducked her head in a rare display of shyness, "and yes, when I want something more I've found myself thinking of you a few times lately." She looked back up at him, her blush would have been apparent if it weren't for such dim light. "I don't think it's some quick thing, but I'm not certain. I never really had the chance for anything long-term." She'd be as honest with him as she could. She wouldn't make promises she couldn't keep. They'd always been straight with each other; she wouldn't start telling him what he wanted to hear just to appease him now.  
Bass studied her face for a moment, looking for any trace of a lie, any insincerity, even from herself, and he found none. "You really think you could make a life with me? That you could live with yourself?"  
Charlie nodded. "I've thought it through. Bass, I'm so tired of living in the past with the dead. I want a future. Isn't that what we were fighting for?"  
Bass huffed out a breath dumbfounded, a smile quirking at the edge of his lips. He shook his head ever so slightly. She made a point. He just couldn't believe she had finally reached this conclusion. He pulled her in for a hug, still surprised when she didn't resist. It was surreal. He'd have thought it was the nano messing with him again, except this was far from perfect.  
  
Bass agreed to stay a couple more weeks, a trial run just to see if he felt welcome in this new light; and Charlie promised not to say a thing about him almost leaving today so long as if he still decided to go that he'd at least say good bye to Miles.  
  
"And what of your Mom and Miles?"  
"What about them?"  
"What happens when they forbid this?"  
"They don't really get a say."  
Bass smiled, "don't they?"  
"No, not really. And don't worry about those icy glares. I'll be here to thaw you out."  
Bass shook his head, but acquiesced. Then putting his finger under her chin he drew Charlie in for a soft kiss.  
  
Three weeks later Charlie found herself putting down a deposit on a rental a couple miles out of town, just two miles down the road from Miles' place.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**Author's Note:**

> I'd presume something like this has already been done, but I am so far behind on my goal of reading through all the Revo fics by the end of 2018. (I had no clue that this spring I would have got bit by a rabid SW fan, nor that I'd find a plethora of amazing RP partners.) Nor have I had time to rewatch Revo in nearly two years :,-( (Hoping to remedy that soon.)
> 
> I had wanted to RP this out, but my Bass players are currently busy... so instead, this drivel got turned into a ficlet... and I figured since most of the still active fans are Charlie/Bass shippers, I might as well share.
> 
> (Seriously though, please let me know how I did. I'm not used to writing just them, geared towards something canonish. Even in my head this went all sorts of porny, their affection was stronger, Bass totally had a thing for Miles. Rachel went out of town, Miles strayed and gave into Bass. And of course it ended up being CM2. As always. And I'm like "No self, NO! This is _just_ a Charloe story."
> 
> Constructive criticism welcome. Though not on styling. Not on something so short. - I still have no beta and it's a miracle when AO3 agrees with my formatting. Voices, personality, grammar, that is what I want to hear on.)
> 
> Happy December my peeps!


End file.
